From Sweden to Sandpoint »Sandpoint Reader
By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader staff
Viktor Sjöberg, Östra Bonner’s new head of the county library district, officially took up his new role on 8 November. Sandpoint readers met Sjöberg to talk about his vision for the area’s library – a resource that he hopes to make all the more relevant to everyone in society.
Sandpoint reader: Tell us about your background.
Viktor Sjöberg: I am originally from Gothenburg, Sweden. I developed an interest in libraries at an early age because it was the device that connected me to reading and also later connected me to the internet, where there were new worlds to discover. One of my primary interests as a child – and still is – is music, and it was my first full-time job, as a touring musician. I did that for about seven years. …
In parallel with touring and playing music, I also went to the library school in Sweden. I graduated in 2009. In 2010, my wife and I moved to California and I began my library career. Since then, I have worked at a number of different libraries in Central and Southern California. Most recently, I was the deputy director of a district in Altadena, California.
When the job opportunity here in Idaho appeared, it was pretty random. We had wanted to move to a more rural area for a while. My wife has a close friend in Spokane, so we had heard about Sandpoint for many years and we decided to give it a try. Once I came here and met everyone – especially the wonderful staff here at the library and saw the facilities – I fell in love and I decided that this would be the right place for us.
SR: You’re about two weeks at work. How did it go?
AGAINST: It has gone well so far. It’s just such a wonderful team where everyone has worked really hard. … I believe that I can bring a higher level of cohesion to the organization and ensure that everyone works towards the same mission and vision and provide clarity and a vision based on trusting each other, which is very crucial for all organizations, but especially one that works with the whole community. If we do not have a high level of trust within the organization, it will be very difficult to build that level of trust with society.
SR: I think that is fair. The interface between the library and the public has been hot and cold throughout the pandemic, especially in terms of disguise policy, board elections, etc. You are entering a time that I assume some may characterize as a bit turbulent. Do you agree?
AGAINST: Yes absolutely. I think it has been turbulent here in a slightly different way than we saw in California, but I think the most important thing to remember about the pandemic is that it is a collective trauma, and that people react and react to all kinds of trauma in the individual. way based on their previous experience and their disposition. The pain that people carry is very different based on this. The most important thing is to take a compassionate approach to it and realize that even though people’s pain manifests itself in different ways, this is a collective experience, and I think there is definitely healing to be gained through it.
SR: I think it’s a very empathetic way to put it. But over to happier topics. What could be a short-term goal you have for the library district, perhaps within your first year?
AGAINST: The strategic planning process – that’s one of the big things, and part of the reason I was hired. To really make sure that we are connected to society’s ambitions and challenges, and that we make decisions based on that information and do not make decisions in a vacuum. We are here for society and I want to develop a participatory model to serve society where we can involve them in the creation of our services as much as possible. … We will hire a lot of new people. We actually have some vacancies right now. I am very fortunate that the team here, before I came, already did a wage study to ensure that we paid people fair wages. …
I really want to make sure that the locals know that they have employment opportunities at the local library, and that we also pay fairly.
SR: I’m glad you took up the strategic planning process. I understand that there may be some public hearings or workshops. Are there any fixed dates yet?
AGAINST: No, no fixed dates yet, because we have just started here internally. I expect this to start early next year, in terms of public participation. It will take many forms, and I will work with the local business community to have meeting places for community talks that will hopefully include some food, some music and these very crucial conversations about what it is like to live here in society and what ambitions we have. have for the future.
SR: Do you have any long-term goals in sight?
AGAINST: I want to hear from society first. … But I have this concept called Library of Human Connection. It’s something I’ve been working on for the last few years and I’m planning to really get the most out of it here in East Bonner County. Just as we have a catalog of books and DVDs and music and all other material, how can we have a catalog of organizations and individuals in society? It goes far beyond a directory. It really is a platform for people to become more connected to each other and learn more about each other, build new skills and remove some of the barriers that seem to exist between people.
SR: What role does the library play for the average person in your ideal world? It’s a bit abstract, but you know, the library is so many different things to so many different people.
AGAINST: I sometimes talk about it as a society for healing space – which is very abstract. What does it mean? Basically, I would like the library to be the first place that people go when they want to engage in something new or improve themselves in some way. This is the ultimate dream, but I think it’s important to say it. Just as the fire brigade is financed by everyone who pays taxes, and they are seen as an absolutely vital resource – which of course they are – it is not necessarily the perception that everyone has of the library, because not everyone uses the library. It has to do with relevance as much as it has to do with consciousness. …
I would like to design a library that is as relevant to people as the fire brigade, but instead of the fire brigade’s reactive nature – where they act when something has gone wrong – the library is the proactive force in society that helps people so that things do not go wrong, but so that it goes right. That is my big vision.